The Deal: Project Popular
by thethingthathasnoname
Summary: Jimon High School AU. Nerd!Simon. Jock!Jace. As far as Simon Lewis was concerned, he hated Jace Wayland and Jace Wayland hated him. The only interaction they had was in maths class where he had the misfortune of sitting next to his grumpy, snarky, captain-of-the-football-team arse. So what happens when Jace starts failing maths and asks Simon to tutor him?
1. Chapter 1

The bell rang.

 _Thank fuck._

It wasn't that Simon Lewis hated school… or his teachers… and he didn't actually mind maths class at all, really.

It was just…

"Do you want to move _any_ slower, Lewis?" came a lazy, snarky voice from beside him, absolutely dripping in sarcasm. As though someone had just grabbed that voice and stuffed it down a toilet of sarcasm. Coincidentally much what Simon wanted to do to the owner of it.

"It would be my pleasure." Simon snapped back at him but shoved his folder into his bag and slung it hastily across his shoulder all the same.

"Thank you." The arrogant drawl responded. "I would wish you a good afternoon, but I just don't care." He continued, stalking past.

"Thanks for sharing, Jace! Bye bye now! Take care!" Simon called after him, not even knowing why his voice continued to talk without his brain's full consent.

Simon was pretty sure he heard "Oh shut up Lewis" before the blond tugged the door open and sauntered out of site with his stupid letterman jacket slung stupidly over his stupidly strong and muscular shoulder and his stupid hair looking so ridiculously well styled and primped and… stupid.

Simon rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose.

God.

Jace Wayland was such a **dick**.


	2. Chapter 2

Simon leant against the lockers.

He was still replaying the end of maths in his head.

He should've said something so much better than "Bye bye now!"

Who even says that anymore?

Why did he need like 3-5 business days to come up with a good comeback?!

"Simon are you even listening to me?" Clary, his best friend and unfortunate conversation partner at present, demanded, snapping him sharply out of his thoughts.

"Er yeh course." Simon nodded blindly. "And I totally agree."

Clary glared at him.

 _Ok, well, he'd tried._

"What were you thinking about?" She asked, eyes narrowed.

"Literally not even anything." Simon sighed. "Just er tired. Maths. You know. Dull shit."

Clary raised an eyebrow. "But you love maths."

"No I don't…" Simon started to protest but trailed off as Clary's face changed from one of scrutiny to one of realisation.

"Ohhhh. Of course... Maths... How is Mr Wayland doing?" She smirked at him, self-satisfied with her ability to read him like a book.

"That's not what I was thinking about." Simon retorted tersely.

"Still as dashing as ever?" Clary ignored him completely, as per.

"Nope. Never has been, never will be." Simon stated stubbornly.

"Oh, come on, Si, you know he's gorgeous." Clary teased, cheeks tinting with pink.

"Don't let him hear you say that; his head will literally explode if it gets any bigger."

"Come onnn. Just admit it. Yes, he's a douche, but…"

"But…?" Simon encouraged sarcastically.

"Those muscles, that blond, wind-swept hair, that killer smile?"

Simon just glared at her.

"The brooding cheekbones! The jawline! The body…" Clary sighed.

"Just no." Simon turned to start heading off.

"You know he is." Clary insisted, grabbing his arm.

"He's just not though."

"But he is."

"But he's not."

Clary pouted at him and for a split-second Simon had thought it was over.

"But…" Clary began.

"For the last time, Fray, Jace Wayland is just not hot!"

WHAM!

Someone slammed into Simon's shoulder from behind almost making him drop the books he was holding.

Simon glared up to see a familiar blond sauntering past with his pals, all in their matching jackets. They looked like sets of twins all dressed by their moms.

"No worries; I'm fine!" Simon jeered after him. "Asshole."

"Simon!" Clary hissed as people turned to stare, and started trying to tug him away.

But Simon was watching the retreating figure at the other end of the corridor. He watched Jace's face turn in profile and, just for one second, he could've sworn he saw his eyes flicker over his shoulder and lock with Simon's own.


	3. Chapter 3

Jace sat in maths, tapping his pen on the desk absentmindedly. He hadn't a clue what was going on and was simply counting down the minutes until he could escape to go to football practice.

He chanced a glance down at the textbook he was meant to be working from.

Didn't understand a word.

God, was he screwed.

Without thinking, the tapping of his pen intensified.

What plans did he have this weekend? He was pretty sure there was a party happening on Friday. There nearly always was. And if he hadn't been invited yet, he could easily score an invite. Or two. And then the big game next week. Always exciting. Damn, what was for dinner? He felt like he hadn't eaten in ages and he was absolutely…

"Would you stop that?!" a harsh hiss from beside him broke him out of his thoughts with a bump.

He turned to see the nerd glaring at him.

"What?" Jace smirked. It was always funny getting him riled up. His glasses tended to slip down his nose and then he'd push them up aggressively, making the tip of his nose go white for a second which made him look a little bit like an angry panda.

Not that Jace had paid that much attention to his face.

Or him at all in general.

It took him a second to realise that he had actually spoken and Jace had completely missed it.

"Sorry, what?" Jace blinked himself back into reality.

He saw the boy give a withering eye roll before staring at Jace's hand.

"Your pen?" He repeated bitterly.

Jace followed his gaze to see where the pen was trapped mid-tap, frozen from the angry voice jolting him out of his thoughts.

"And?" Jace demanded, raising one eyebrow at him.

"Er, it's kinda annoying." He met his eyes and didn't flinch.

"Er, you're kinda annoying." Jace scowled without thinking.

 _Wow, good one Jace…_

"Wow…"

 _Jesus could this guy get any more sarcastic?_

 _And was he reading Jace's mind?_

Jace really fucking hoped he couldn't read minds.

Not that he had anything on his mind that he particularly wanted to hide.

It wasn't like he was thinking about really gross pervy things.

Like porn.

Or like obsessing over him or anything. That would be weird.

But… if he'd overheard the panda thing, that might have come across badly.

But it just was really funny to get him angry.

Plus he was pretty much the only person that Jace could have a good argument with.

And the other day when he'd been properly glaring down the corridor at him after he'd accidentally bumped his shoulder…

Ok, maybe not all that accidentally.

But he had had fire in his eyes.

And that was kinda…

"Are you doing this on purpose to piss me off?!" The angry hiss was back.

"What?!" Jace exclaimed, jerking his head around. Man, he had to stop zoning out. And what the fuck was he even thinking? Lewis is a fucking nerd and an annoying one at that. A know-it-all. And he just never stopped talking.

"That. Bloody. Pen!" The boy's eyes had that look in them again. The flames. The intensity.

Jace hadn't even noticed he'd started tapping again.

But he didn't appreciate the way that Lewis was talking to him.

"Calm yourself…" Jace drawled, feeling the spoiled little brat inside of him gloat to the surface. "Do you really think I care about you enough to go out of my way to do anything targeted at you, even to annoy you? Sorry to burst your little bubble of self-importance."

It was an icy stone-cold burn.

Jace smirked with satisfaction.

"As if you're one to talk about self-importance!" Lewis shoved his glasses up his nose leaving the tip white, causing Jace to grin wider. "Look at you, you're the most arrogant person I know!"

"Lucky me!" Jace snapped back.

"Gentlemen, please!" the teacher's voice sounded from the front of the classroom.

Jace hadn't even noticed that their voices had raised until now.

Caught in the heat of the moment you could say.

"Sorry sir." Of course the nerd wouldn't dare hold his ground against a teacher. The wimp.

Jace retained a stony silence.

This wasn't his fault.

"Jace, I want to see you after class." The teacher said.

Even Jace couldn't maintain a façade of ice after that.

"What? That's not fair! He was the one shouting!" Jace declared. "Just because he's the world's biggest arse-lick and swotty know-it-all!"

The minute Jace stopped speaking, he realised he had all eyes of the room on him.

Absolute silence rang about his ears.

He slouched back down in his seat with a grunt.

"Detention, Mr Wayland." The teacher said.

"Yeah, whatever." Jace muttered, slipping the mask back into place.

This was all that stupid nerd's fault.

He never got like this with anyone else.

And if he hadn't been such a little rat, the teacher would have put them both in it together and then at least…

He stopped himself, mid rant.

No point obsessing over the stupid thing.

And he wasn't fucking obsessing anyway.

He didn't give a shit. Not about maths. Not about the nerd. Not about anything.

And _definitely_ not about the nerd.

Just so we're clear.


End file.
